What you do for the one you love
by Haileyrade
Summary: What is done cannot be undone. What is not yet done can be avoided. But it is not to be undertaken lightly. We'll swallow this day, as though it had never happened. we take it back. Then none of this happened and Jade and I.. what will stop us. You. You alone will carry the memory of this day. Can you carry that burden? For Jade I will.


The door opens and Tori walks into the outer office a dazed expression on her face.

Cat: "What's wrong? What happened? - Did you do it with Jade? (Andre steps closer to Tori staring at her chest) Watch it, Andre, don't get too close. - Hey, you walked in the front door - from the street! You got.."

Tori looking at Andre: "Yeah."

Cat: "An umbrella!"

Tori walks past them and stand in the sun streaming in through the window.

Andre: "She's alive, Cat."

Cat: "Alive?"

Tori: "Jade and I were attacked by some kind of demon. I- I tracked it - and killed it (Holds out her right hand) A-and some of its blood mixed with mine."

Andre laying two fingers on her wrist: "And you wound up with a pulse?"

Tori: "I want to find out what kind of a demon that was. Ow, my back. It hurts. Everything's.."

Andre: "More real, now that you're real?"

Tori: "Yeah. I'm mortal now. I have a mortal body. (Stares at where Cat is standing) And I'm so - hungry!"

Cat jumps out of her way as she comes charging towards her: "Look out, she's gonna eat..(Tori grabs one of the donuts sitting on the little refrigerator behind where she was standing and stuffs it in her mouth) everything in sight!"

Tori opens the fridge, takes a bite out of an apple: "Oh my God. Food. (Takes a bite out of something else) This is unbelievable. This is so.. (Smells the apple) You know, I forgot how good it all tastes when you're alive!"

Cat: "Yeah, and they didn't even have Cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip when you were alive."

Tori: "Mmm, I want some! Can you get that?"

Cat: "It'll go straight to your thighs."

Tori still trying bites of everything: "Uhm, chocolate! Oh, (Laughs) chocolate!"

Andre: "All right, all right, we need to focus here. We need to try and find out.."

Tori talking with her mouth full: "I love chocolate! (Drinks out of a yogurt container and makes a face) Uh, but not, as it turns out, yogurt. Urgh!"

Andre: "Orsen! We're in a situation here."

Tori: "Right. (Takes a deep breath and closes the fridge) I know. You're right. Let me think - and now my stomach's killing me. - Cat, find Jade. She' in Santa Monica near the Lone Star. Tell her I killed the demon."

Cat turns to go: "Okay."

Tori: "Oh, wait! Don't tell her what's happened to me. Not until I know what it means."

Cat: "All right."

Cut to a woodcut of the demon in a book.

Tori: "That's it."

Andre: "It's called a Mohra demon. They're pretty powerful assassins, soldiers of darkness kind of thing. They take out warriors for our side, like you and Jade. (Quotes from book) 'Needs vast amounts of salt to live'."

Tori: "It was heading towards salt water."

Andre quoting: "'Veins run with the blood of eternity.' There it is. Its blood has regenerative properties."

Tori staring fascinated at her reflection in a window: "Which explains what happened to me. But it doesn't explain why."

Andre closes the book: "Hey, what difference does it make, man? The demon's dead, you're alive! It's happy fun time."

Tori spins to confront Andre: "What's going on here, Andre?"

Andre: "I don't know. I thought the only way for you to be made mortal was if the Powers-That-Be stepped in."

Tori: "What, they could have done this? How come I keep getting the feeling that you're not telling me everything."

Andre: "Because I'm not. We're both on a need to know basis here."

Tori pacing: "I need to know about this. Is this permanent? Am I - am I normal Joe now? Can I have a normal life? I want to speak to the Powers-That-Be."

Andre: "Woah, woah, woah! That's easier said then done, bud. The Powers-That-Be don't live in our reality. You have to approach them through channels. Dangerous channels."

Tori: "Yeah, you know what? Start approaching!"

Andre: "All right. All right. Maybe we can try the Oracles. But hey, if they turn you into a toad - don't say I didn't warn you."

Cut to Tori and Andre in some underground chamber. There is a white stone arc in one wall.

Tori reading the foreign inscription above it: "'The Gateway for Lost Souls' (Turns to Andre) is under the post office?"

Andre: "It makes sense if you think about it. Now listen, the Oracles are finicky and unpredictable. You do get in, don't dilly-dally. Ask your questions, get out."

Tori: "Aren't you coming?"

Andre: "Not allowed. I'm just a lowly messenger, you're a warrior.. if your heart is pure - and I do this right.. (Puts some herbs in an urn) 'We beseech access to the knowing ones..' We may just survive. (Put a lighter to the urn and it fills with high flames. The arc glows and fills with light) You're in."

Tori steps through the light into a white marble chamber. Two glittery figures confront him.

Man: "Come before us, lower being."

Woman: "What have you brought us?"

Tori: "Was I supposed to.."

Man: "You call us forth and bring us no offering?"

Tori takes off her wristwatch: "I brought you this."

Woman holds out her hand and the watch flies to her: "I like Time. There is so little and so much of it."

Man: "Well?"

Tori: "What's happened to me?"

Woman steps to one side of Tori: "It's true then, brother."

Man on Tori's other side: "She is no longer a warrior."

Tori: "It was the demon's blood. It wasn't the Powers-That-Be that did this?"

Man: "The Powers-That-Be? Did you save humanity? Avert the Apocalypse?"

Woman: "You faced a Mohra demon. Life goes on."

Tori: "My life as a human. I'm not poisoned or under some spell?"

Woman looks up, after a beat: "The Auguries say no. If it has happened it was meant to be."

Man: "From this day, you will live and die as any mortal woman."

Woman: "Privy to all the attendant pains - and pleasures."

Man: "That which we serve is no longer that which you serve. You are released from your fealty."

The woman and man walk away from her.

Tori: "That's it? I'm free?"

Man holds up his hand and Tori goes flying backwards out of the arc to land on top of Andre.

Andre helps her up: "Tori, it didn't work?"

Tori: "Yes, it did."

Andre: "You just went in this instant."

Tori staring at the arc: "What?"

Andre: "Look at your watch."

Tori: "I can't do that, Andre. Next time remind me to bring a gift?"

Andre: "I knew I forgot something. So, what happened? What did they say?"

Tori: "They're a little confusing, but.. - the gist of it is - it's real. - I'm free."

Andre: "I can't believe this."

Tori: "Me either. I mean, what do I do now? - I have this whole new life spread before me. I don't know where to begin."

Andre: "Right. It's overwhelming. You can pretty much do whatever you want now. The question is, what do you want?"

Cut to Tori just trying to stay alive as the Mohra demon keeps coming after her. Tori climbs on the lid of a salt silo and when the demon jumps up and hits her they both crash through.

Mohra putting a foot on Tori's neck: "The end of days has begun and can't be stopped. For anyone of us that falls, *ten* shall rise."

As the Mohra lifts his sword to stab Tori Jade jumps down on it from above, knocking it off Tori.

Jade got the demon's sword: "You hurt my Girlfriend."

Mohra: "A great darkness is coming."

Jade: "You got that right."

They fight. Mohra manages to wrap its Morgenstern around Jade's sword and pull it from her hand. Jade kicks it into the wall.

Jade: "Come on, this is the great warrior of darkness?"

They fight some more. Jade manages to step on the chain of its Morgenstern and kick the demon so it has to let go of it. It picks her up and throws her into the wall.

Mohra: "Together you were powerful. Alone, you are dead. (Picks her up by her throat) What do you think of the great warrior now?"

Tori picks up a handful of salt: "Little bland. (Throws it in the demon's eyes and it drops Jade) Needs salt."

Tori tries to help Jade up, but the Mohra grabs her and throws her across the silo. Jade and the demon keep fighting.

Tori looks up at the demon: "The light of a thousand eyes... The jewel in its forehead! You have to smash the jewel."

Jade picks up the Morgenstern and does just that.

Mohra: "No!"

The demon vanishes in a bright light.

Jade runs over to Tori and takes his head in her lap.

Tori: "Jade, are you all..."

Jade: "Shh, you're all right. That's all that matters. Shh, you're all right. (Kisses the top of her head) And it's over. And we're together."

Back at the lair of The Powers That Be

Man: "You again."

Woman: "What have you brought me?"

Tori: "Famille Rose vase. (Throws her a black vase) Ching dynasty. Circa 1811."

Woman: "Lovely."

Man: "Why are you here, lower being?"

Tori: "The Mohra demon said the end of days had begun. That others were coming, soldiers of darkness. I need to know if he was telling the truth."

Man: "As far as such things can be told."

Tori: "What happens to the Jade when these soldiers come?"

Woman: "What happens to all mortal beings. Albeit sooner in her case."

Tori: "She'll die? - Then I'm here to beg for her life."

The Oracles turn and walk away: "It is not our place to grant life or death."

Tori: "And I ask you to take mine back. (The oracles stop walking and turn back to her) Look I can't protect her or anyone this way, not as a woman."

Woman: "You're asking to be what you were, a demon with a soul, because of a mere girl?"

Man turns to leave again: "Oh, this is a matter of love. It does not concern us."

Tori: "Yes, it does. The Mohra demon came to take a warrior from your cause - and it succeeded. I'm no good to you like this. I know you have it in your power to make this right. Please."

Man: "What is done cannot be undone."

Woman: "What is not yet done can be avoided."

Man: "Temporal folds are not to indulge at - the whims of lower beings."

Woman: "You are wrong. This one is willing to sacrifice every drop of human happiness and love she has ever known for another. She is not a lower being."

Man: "There is one way. But it is not to be undertaken lightly."

Woman: "We swallow this day, as though it had never happened. Twenty-four hours from the moment the demon first attacked you, we take it back."

Tori licks her lips: "Then none of this happened and Jade and I.. What - what'll stop us from doing the exact same thing again?"

Woman: "You. You alone will carry the memory of this day. - Can you carry that burden?"

Cut to the clock on Tori's desk. It's 8:56.

Jade wearing a long flowery dress is pacing Tori's apartment. Tori comes down the steps to her apartment.

Jade: "I'm guessing that expression isn't because they were all out of fresh OJ at the deli. - What happened?"

Tori: "Nothing happened. - I just.."

Jade: "Where have you been?"

Tori: "I went to see the Oracles. I asked them to turn me back."

Jade: "What? - Why?"

Tori: "Because more than ever I know how much I love you."

Jade backs away from her: "No. No, you didn't."

Tori follows her: "And if I stayed mortal one of us would wind up dead, maybe both of us. You heard what Mohra said."

Jade: "Mohra is dead. We killed her."

Tori: "She said others would come."

Jade: "They always come. And they always will. But that's my problem now, not yours, remember?"

Tori: "No, I won't just stand by and let you fight, maybe die, alone."

Jade: "Then we fight together."

Tori: "You saw what happened last night. If anything I'm a liability to you. You take chances to protect me, and that's not just bad for you, it's bad for the people we were meant to help."

Jade: "So what? You just took a whole 24 hours to weigh the ups and downs of being a regular Joe and decided it was more fun being a superhero?"

Tori: "You know that's not it. How can we be together if the cost is your life, or the lives of others? (Jade just stares at her and after a moment she takes her into her arms) I know. I couldn't tell you. I wasn't sure - if I could do it if I woke up with you one more morning."

Jade sniffling: "I understand. - So, what happens now?'

Tori: "The Oracles are giving us back the day, turning back time, so I can kill Mohra before his blood makes me mortal."

Jade: "When?"

Tori looks over at the clock (it's 9:00): "Another minute."

Jade crying: "A minute? No. No, it's not enough time!"

Tori: "We don't have a choice. It's done."

Jade: "How am I supposed to go on with my life knowing what we had? What we could have had?"

Tori: "You won't. No one will know but me."

Jade: "Everything we did."

Tori: "It never happened."

Jade shakes her head: "It did. It did. I know it did! (Puts her hand on Tori's heart) I felt your heart beat."

Tori: "Jade.."

They kiss. Jade looks over at the clock. The minute is almost up.

Jade: "No! Oh God. It's not enough time."

Tori is crying too now: "Shh, please. Please."

The hold each other tightly both crying.

Tori: "Please, please."

Jade: "No. I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget."

White flash dissolves to Tori's office the previous day.

Tori is leaning against her desk blinking, looking around. Jade is standing next to the door.

Jade: "So, then let's just stick to the plan. Keep our distance until a lot of time has passed, and given enough time - we should be able to.."

Tori stares at her and swallows hard: "Forget."

Jade: "Yeah. - So - I'm gonna go - start forgetting."

The Mohra crashes through the window behind Tori with a scream. Tori just turns, grabs the clock from her desk and coolly smashes the Mohra's jewel with it. The Mohra goes up in a flash of light.

Jade slightly stunned: "That was unreal. - How did you know how to kill it?"

Tori: "It's a Mohra demon. I - I had a lot of time to catch up on my reading."

Jade nods slowly: "Yeah. Okay. - So I guess we've covered it, right?"

Tori: "I guess we did."

Jade: "And that's all there really is to say."

Tori takes a deep breath and looks down on the smashed clock. It stopped at 9:02. When she turns back Jade is already leaving the outer office.

Tori: "Yeah. - That's it."


End file.
